Reversal
by Silvered Rae
Summary: Using Daedalus' laptop, Annabeth finds a way for Percy to prevent the war before it even happens. It's dangerous, possibly fatal, and might not even work. Yet Percy knows that it's his best shot. Pairings are in canon.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, Rick Riordan does.**

**Chapter 1**

**Secrets and Training**

My name is Percy Jackson and I'm just your average teenager who has to save the world from doom and destruction in the form of my evil Titan grandfather. Yeah, absolutely nothing weird about that.

Now ever since Kronos came back, the gods have been looking for a way to get rid of him permanently. Well, as permanently as possible when dealing with immortal beings. So far, much to my disappointment, they haven't come up with anything.

I'm really desperately praying that they find something to help me out, because without an advantage, the odds are pretty heavily stacked against me. Teenage boy versus Kronos, Lord of Time. Gee, don't hold your breath to see who wins that one. Still, everyone is counting on me and until a better option comes, I have to plain outfight Kronos.

So on this morning, as I'm on my way to go train against some automatons, I decide to stop by the steps of the Athena cabin, where I know Annabeth will be sitting, scouring over Daedalus' laptop.

Annabeth. Things have been really weird between us since her quest with the labyrinth. She was mad at me for a while; it probably had something to do with how close I got to Rachel over the school year. Her face always turns the color of Rachel's hair whenever I bring her up. Now she's pretending that nothing ever happened between us at Mount Saint Helens, and we've more or less fallen back into our normal routine.

As predicted, she's sitting on the steps with the laptop propped up on her knees. Her blonde hair is pulled into a messy ponytail with a few strands rebelliously hanging in her eyes. I think about how much she's grown up since I met her. We could barely get along way back then, and now she's my best friend here.

"Annabeth," I say. She either doesn't hear me or ignores me, hopefully not the latter. "Annabeth," I say, slightly louder this time. Again, no response from her. I sigh loudly. She's probably wrapped up in that laptop again.

I sit next to her and say loudly in her ear. "Wise Girl. Come in, come in!" I tease.

At the sound of my voice right in her ear, she jerks her head up. "Percy, don't scare me like that!" she says angrily.

I lean over, looking at the laptop. There's a lot of writing in what I assume is Ancient Greek. "What are you looking at now?" I ask, pretending to be interested.

She slams the computer shut faster than I thought possible. It's weird, since she's usually all-too-eager to explain whatever genius invention Daedalus came up with to me. "Oh, you know," she says vaguely, a hint of nervousness creeping into her voice. She brushes a strand of hair behind her ear.

"No, not really," I say. "Top secret stuff, I take it?"

She shrugs and taps her fingers on the closed laptop. "Just...something I want to look into more before I share it with anybody, okay?"

I nod, like I get her need for privacy perfectly. "Okay..." I reply with possibly the lamest thing possible. "I have to go practice now..." I stand up.

She nods. "Yeah, I need to look over this some more anyway."

"See you later?" I say and shove a hand in my pocket, wrapping my hand around my pen\sword, Riptide. Holding it helps me feel ready for training, and it also makes me feel better when I'm nervous. Annabeth definitely makes me nervous.

"Yeah." She smiles thinly. "See you later."

As I walk towards the arena, she opens up the laptop and goes back to looking at whatever is so important that she can't tell me. Normally, most of the inventions on that laptop are great in writing, but don't really work all that well so I don't pay much attention to them. Yet I'm curious what she doesn't want to tell me.

I keep thinking about it all through practice. What could it be? Maybe it's something that's going to help me beat Kronos, I think hopefully as I slice an automaton in half. They are getting way too easy to fight. Good sign? I sure hope so.

I cap my sword and slip it back into my pocket. No matter how great I do at training, I always feel...unprepared. It's one thing fighting an automaton, and a completely different thing to fight Kronos. I know that how hard I train, I'm not going to be ready to face him. How am I supposed to fight him when he's got the scythe that can rip your soul right out of your body with a tiny scratch?

I decide to find someone to spar with, even though I know it will be an easy win. There's no one at Camp who's even close to my skill level. In fact, few people can hold their own for more than five minutes against me. That should make me happy, but it really gets me frustrated. There's no one to train with, and yet I'm supposed to be skilled enough to fight Kronos, who I know is way stronger than I am.

As I'm walking by the cabins, I see Annabeth out of the corner of my eye, talking to Beckendorf. She's explaining something and he's nodding his head. He's got that glint in his eye that he gets when thinking of how he's going to build something. Does this have something to do with the laptop?

I sigh. I really need to get over that laptop and get my head back in the game. Training is more important than whatever thing Annabeth has found on the laptop.

Yet as I walk by, I can't help but overhear some of their conversation.

"...think you can make something like that?" Annabeth says, obvious doubt in her voice.

"Yeah it's just the...might be hard to...can do it," Beckendorf says. Of course, I don't hear the important parts of what he says. Annabeth wants him to try to build whatever is on that laptop? I thought she would have learned after trial and error with so many of the other things on it.

And why can she let Beckendorf in on it but not me? I'm good at keeping secrets! I've never told anyone about Grover's stuffed goat that he sleeps with. (Okay, you did not hear that from me. And I'm really sorry Grover! Please don't make poison ivy grow all over my cabin!) Seeing her telling Beckendorf whatever is so special before she tells me just makes me feel...jealous. I'm jealous that she didn't come to me first. I'm jealous that he can help her with something I can't.

I continue walking, no longer in the mood to find someone to train against. I'm not sure what I'm in the mood for, to tell you the truth. I know I should go train some more, but I really don't see the point. It isn't making me any better.

"Hey, wait up!" Annabeth calls from behind me. I slow to a stop as she catches up. She takes one look at my face and says in a concerned tone, "What's wrong?"

I shrug and start walking. "Nothing. I'm fine."

Her arm brushes against mine lightly "Something is wrong. Is it about the laptop?" she says intuitively. I just shake my head no. "Seaweed Brain, it's nothing. I just want to look into it a little more before I toss it in the rubbish bin with most of the other ideas."

"But you won't tell me about it," I mumble pathetically.

She sighs and plays with the ends of her blonde hair. "Well...let's just say it might help you beat Kronos. I want to keep it kind of secret because, well, you never know who you can trust."

"Oh..." I nod in agreement. Suddenly I feel really stupid for getting so worked up over it.

"And I didn't want to...get your hopes up, you know?" She looks at me, hoping I'll understand why she didn't tell me immediately. "I know how hard this has been on you...I didn't want to get your hopes up until I knew there was some shot at it working."

"So that's what you and Beckendorf were talking about?"

"Yeah. He thinks he can help me get it built."

"And I suppose you're still not going to tell me what it is?" I say.

She smiles. "Now what would be the fun in that?" Then in a more serious tone she says, "I want to ask Chiron about it first, and maybe a couple of my siblings. Then, _if_ we think it will work, we'll let you in on it."

I groan. "You know I hate surprises. Why can't you just tell me now?"

"Well..." Annabeth says hesitantly. "You kind of have a big mouth, and we don't want you to tell Grover because...well..."

"Don't tell me you think he's a spy!" I say, way louder than I probably should have.

"Keep your voice down," Annabeth hisses. Then she pulls me closer and whispers in my ear. "It's not Grover. You know I trust him. It's...well...we're not quite sure about Juniper yet."

I breathe a sigh of relief. "Oh. I guess I understand then."

She smiles. "I have to go look at the laptop. I want to make sure I really have this right," she says. "I'll see you soon, though. Okay?"

I return her smile. "Okay. Just, try really hard to get this to work, okay?"

She groans. "See why I didn't tell you? Now I'm going to feel pressured."

"Ah, don't worry too much about it. It'd just be really nice to have an advantage, you know?" I say.

She smiles. "Oh yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I only hope this works."

**Author's Note: Thanks to Sheva Das for betaing! Please read and review!**


	2. Klutzy and Stupid

**Disclaimer: If you are under the impression that I own PJO, please go get your head checked.**

**Chapter 2**

**Klutzy and Stupid**

I want to assault Annabeth with questions every time I see her. Just a casual, "Hey, how's it going? Oh, by the way, did you figure out a way for me to beat Kronos?" but I can see how much time she spends staring at that laptop, and judging by the way she looks, she's spent a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure it out too.

Two weeks have gone by, and I've barely seen her, let alone talked to her. I know that I should be training way more, but my brain has wrapped itself around the belief that Annabeth is going to find me a loophole.

I don't see a lot of the Athena kids at all. They're all busy trying to help Annabeth, but from what I can tell, they're just as confused as she is. I don't get it; most of the ideas that are in the laptop clearly show how they're supposed to work. How can this one be so different?

Beckendorf has been MIA too, come to think of it. Ever since Annabeth talked to him, he's been spending a lot of time working on something. Whatever it is, it probably has something to do with Annabeth's plan.

I know that she doesn't want to get my hopes up and all, but that ship has long since sailed. Now I'm sitting in the dark, eagerly waiting for that metaphorical light to come and let me in on the big secret.

Every tick of the clock is painful, bringing me one step closer to having to face my evil grandfather. I want Annabeth to hurry, or at least tell me exactly what she's working on. She has to know how every second it takes to prepare this invention is a second too long.

With that on my mind, I decide to go for a walk around the camp, looking for Annabeth. I just need to talk to her, to see if I can get her to tell me what this big plan is. What I'm feeling right now is kind of...well, let's put it this way. It's like Christmas, with all those presents under the tree; more specifically, just one. You know that this gift is going to change your life, but your parents won't let you open it\won't tell you when you'll be allowed to open it\if you'll even be allowed to open it. I know, it's pretty rough.

I guess I'm so deep in thought, that I don't see Annabeth until I bump right into her. She curses in ancient Greek and I hear the thump before I see it. Her eyes meet mine, registering shock and rage that I can't even begin to comprehend.

I look down, and there lays a broken laptop. "...Oh..." I manage to say, a pathetic reaction to undoubtedly the worst possible scenario.

Her face slowly turns a shade of red that's so bright it could be mistaken for a horrible sunburn. Her mouth opens, and from it erupts a stream of curses strong enough to make Hades cringe. After probably a solid ten minutes-and at this point she's attracted the attention of several campers-she takes a deep breath and launches into a rant directed at me.

"Percy Jackson!" she screeches. "Why do you have to be such a klutz?" Somewhere in the back of my mind, I realize she must have been walking while reading the laptop. We collided, and the rest of that story is laying broken on the ground.

"I hope you realize that there is now no hope whatsoever for you, and therefore the rest of us!" I cringe. Angry-and-shouting-Annabeth definitely scares me worse than my mom ever did when she yelled at me. "Any and all hope for you is now as broken as that laptop!" she says and stamps her foot.

Now sleep deprivation probably doesn't make for the most logical mind, and I highly doubt that such an important laptop could break so easily. I figure I have to say something in my defense, and that might be as good a defense as any. "Well...Annabeth, maybe it's not broken," I suggest.

I see a few campers-probably Connor and Travis Stoll-shake hands on a bet. Others watch eagerly, waiting to see how this fight plays out. Just what I want; people to see Annabeth's giant blowup at me.

With an almost crazy look in her eyes, she picks up the broken laptop. A closer inspection reveals a giant crack on the screen, the panel over the keyboard is shattered beyond repair, but worst of all is the visible circuitry, which is smashed, mangled, and pretty much demolished. It occurs to me that the odds of breaking a laptop so badly have to be like a trillion to one. Yeah, that's my luck for you.

She hits the on button over and over, then points to the still-shattered and blank screen. "Yeah, maybe it's not broken," she mocks me. "Any other stupid excuses you would like to try now, Seaweed Brain?"

"Um...Isn't everything stored in a memory card?" I say, voice shaking in fear. I pray really hard that I'm right, because facing Annabeth's wrath is almost as terrifying-if not worse-than facing any other monster I've had to fight.

"A memory card? A memory card?" she shouts. "Gee, why didn't I think of that? Let me think. Maybe because this laptop has none!" I don't say anything, so she continues on. "Daedalus was too smart for that. It would be too simple for someone to steal a memory card! Everything was stored right on the laptop! I guess he never planned for someone as utterly stupid as you!"

Now at this point I have to say something in my defense. A guy can only take so much beating on his pride. "Hey, this is just as much your fault as it is mine. You shouldn't have been walking around with hit if it's so fragile!"

"And you should have watched where you were going!" she retorts.

I see in the corner of my eye a familiar face break through the crowd of campers gathered around. "Children, children, what in Zeus' name is going on here?" Chiron says, concern filling his eyes. Then he sees the broken laptop in Annabeth's arms and he too swears in ancient Greek. I sigh. Where is Mom with the good old bar of soap when you need her?

"It's all Percy's fault!" Annabeth says, quick to put the blame on me. "I was just walking along, and he had to bump into me! Now the laptop is ruined, and we're all doomed!" she wails.

Chiron looks at me, waiting for me to explain my side of the story. Wow, he's gotten good at playing mediator over the countless years of breaking up demigod's fights. I shrug. "She shouldn't have been walking with the laptop."

He takes a deep breath. I can tell that inside, he's probably feeling a lot like Annabeth. "And there's no way to fix it or get the files back?"

Annabeth gives him a look that would send anyone running for the hills. "No, I've just completely lost it over a completely fixable situation that is completely fine." She says, putting emphasis on the completely.

"Can we...keep going without the blueprint?" he says. Oh, so even Chiron knows about the big plan. Why is the guy who needs to know always the last to find out? I'm tempted to demand what they were trying to make, but now doesn't seem to be a good time to have a tantrum. Annabeth is having a big enough one for the both of us, I figure.

She closes her eyes, and when she opens them again, there's some trace of sanity back in her gray eyes. "We can try. I have most of the plans memorized anyway."

I want to ask why she had the big blowup then. But the thought of her shouting at me again keeps me from doing so. "You were almost ready, correct?" Chiron inquires towards Annabeth. I can tell that he's fighting to keep his cool too.

She nods somberly. "As close to ready as you can get when dealing with the unpredictable." Well that sure sounds comforting, I think to myself. "There's the chance that we're wrong, but we've got most of the details figured out."

Chiron nods his head. "And the device?"

"Beckendorf is just putting the finishing touches on it. We've got everything we can figured out. The rest..." she trails off, then adds, "...is up to fate."

I look back and forth between them. "Um...does someone want to tell me what this is all about? I'm in the dark over here."

Annabeth looks to Chiron, who looks at the crowd gathered around, then sighs and says, "On Daedalus' laptop, Annabeth found a device for breaking the barriers between time."

Now my brain is pretty mushy from being yelled at, and my ears are sore from all the shrieking\cursing that's happened in the last fifteen minutes. I think that maybe I've misheard him. "Um...time travel? Isn't that...I don't know...a little...impossible?"

Annabeth rolls her eyes, and in the voice one would use towards an incompetent child, she says, "According to Daedalus, it's possible, but a very delicate process."

I shake my head in confusion. "Okay...So why are we even bothering with it?"

This time it's Chiron who answers. "We want to send you back in time ten years, to prevent this war before it ever starts."

**Author's Note: If you think Annabeth's reaction was OOC, just think about how you would feel if someone smashed your laptop (as my friend said). I think it moved along rather quickly, but there really wasn't anything else I could do...Please review! I take flames, CC, or anything else you want to give me!**


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